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Suborbital space tourism finally arrives | FCC prepares to run public C-band auction | The big four in the U.S. launch industry — United Launch Alliance, SpaceX, Blue Origin and Northrop Grumman — hope to be one of two providers that will receive five-year contracts later this year to launch national security payloads starting in 2022. | China’s launch rate stays high | The International Space Station is the largest ever crewed object in space.

 
Uránia Nemzeti Filmszínház in Budapest, Hungary
Constructed in the mid-1890s, Hungary’s national film theater Uránia is a breathtaking work of Art Nouveau architecture, combining Venetian Gothic elements with the Italian Renaissance into the crown jewel of Neo-Moorish style in Budapest. Originally an “orpheum,” the theater was first called Caprice and then (fittingly) renamed Alhambra. It was given projection equipment in 1899, becoming the Uránia Science Theater. Two years later, its rooftop terrace provided a location for the film A táncz (The Dance), arguably the very...

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Wonder Is Everywhere: New Finds, Viking Whale...
Wonder is everywhere. That’s why, every other week, Atlas Obscura drags you down some of the rabbit holes we encounter as we search for our unusual stories. We highlight surprising finds, great writing, and inspiring stories from some of our favorite publications. The Man Who Raced to Tell the World That Mount Everest Had Been Climbed by Peter Frick, Outside At 11:30 a.m. on May 29, 1953, Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary reached the summit of Mount Everest. News...

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Coney Island Was Once Full of Dueling,...
Coney Island was once a glittering star of the early 1900s. It was the Progressive Era, amusement parks were becoming enormously popular across America, and New York City’s version of roller coasters and carnival games seemed like the epitome of wholesome fun. But the beachy entertainment land was quite different than it is today. Coney Island mainly consisted of three theme parks: Steeplechase Park, Luna Park, and Dreamland. And from 1904 to 1911, all were locked into a perpetual...

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La Sqala in Casablanca, Morocco
In the medina of Casablanca, just a stone’s throw away from the more famous Rick’s Cafe, stands La Sqala. A traditional Moroccan restaurant established circa 2001, it has since grown popular among the local Casablancais and tourists alike. In addition to its quintessential Moroccan menu, from lamb tagine to classic pastries such as sfenj, msamen and baghrir, this restaurant’s attraction also lies in its overall atmosphere, which channels the ambience of historic Maghreb. Visitors enclosed within these imposing stone walls may be...

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Poké Lid #100 in Machida, Japan
Japan is known for its affinity with unique manhole covers, often decorated with local motifs or popular characters, contributing to a boost in tourism. The Pokémon franchise is no exception to this trend, with the “Poké Lids” project launched in 2019. Most of the Poké Lids are found outside Tokyo, as one of the project’s main goals is to attract visitors to other parts of Japan, but the suburban city of Machida curiously has a total of six of them....

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K-9 Cemetery in Mabalacat, Philippines
Built when the Clark Freeport Zone was still a U.S. military air base, the K-9 Cemetery is a memorial for military police dogs that served alongside the military officers. 284 headstones bearing the names and identification numbers of each dog are arranged in rows surrounded by a chain fence. The once-painted signboard identifying the cemetery is now blank while an empty pedestal once held a statue of a U.S. military officer and his dog companion. The statue was removed...

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Leiston Abbey in Leiston, England
A silent witness to the evolution of religious life and architectural prowess, Leiston Abbey was a religious house dedicated to St Mary and home to Canons Regular following the Premonstratensian rule. Founded by the Chief Justiciar to King Henry II Ranulf de Glanville, St. Mary de Insula was established on a marshland isle. However, due to frequent flooding in the 1300s, a decision was made to relocate and rebuild the abbey where it currently resides. Considered a monumental task,...

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These Stuffed, Fluffy Bagels Are Taking China...
“There are so many bagel shops right now,” says Shanghai-based food writer and photographer Rachel Gouk. “We only had maybe two bagel shops for the past ten years, and all of a sudden they’re everywhere.” In 2023, Gouk wrote about her trip to New York Bagelous Museum, a Shanghai bakery she refers to as “not from New York, not a museum, not bagels.” The ring-shaped breads at this and other bagel shops in Shanghai are more like a...

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Statue of Liberty Replica in Harlan, Kansas
If America is truly the Land of Liberty, then one of the best demonstrations of that virtue can be found in a roadside park along a barren stretch of Highway 281 near the town of Harlan, Kansas. Here, a miniature version of the Statue of Liberty, rising nearly 8 ½ feet tall, stands proudly over a windswept prairie, with little else in sight. For those who are ready to rush to one of the nation’s most remote locations to...

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Podcast: A Daring Story of Freedom with...
Listen and subscribe on Stitcher, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and all major podcast apps. In this episode of The Atlas Obscura Podcast, historian and author Edda L. Fields-Black tells us the fascinating and action-packed story of one of the most daring spy operations and raids of the entire Civil War—led by Harriet Tubman. Our podcast is an audio guide to the world’s wondrous, awe-inspiring, strange places. In under 15 minutes, we’ll take you to an incredible site, and along the...

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First Christian Church in Columbus, Indiana
Columbus, Indiana, is a city of just over 50,000 people located in the southern part of the state about 45 miles (75 km) from Indianapolis. At first, Columbus may seem like an average city, but Columbus is a haven for modern architecture filled with innovative and unusual buildings. The modernist architecture movement started in Columbus with the First Christian Church, which is located within the city’s downtown area. The church was designed by Finnish-American architect Eliel Saarinen and his...

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The Birthplace of Banoffi Pie in Jevington,...
Banoffee, or Bannofi, Pie was supposedly first created by Nigel Mackenzie and Ian Dowding at the Hungry Monk Restaurant in Jevington, where there is a blue plaque commemorating the invention. Beginning with an American recipe for “Coffee Toffee Pie”, Mackenzie and Dowding, owner and chef of the Hungry Monk respectively, adapted this pie, creating their soft toffee by boiling an unopened can of condensed milk for several hours. They then began experimenting with adding fruit, after apples and oranges proved unsuccessful,...

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Cocaine Bear in Lexington, Kentucky
In 2016, a Lexington, Kentucky, gift shop unveiled a taxidermied black bear that had been recovered by the store’s co-owners, Whitt Hyler and Griffin VanMeter. It wasn’t just any taxidermy bear—this is Cocaine Bear. In 1985, this bear overdosed on cocaine dropped by a drug smuggler in Chattahoochee, a story that inspired a movie almost 40 years later.   The story goes back to 1985, when a black bear was found dead in the woods after eating roughly $15 million...

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Self-Tribute Stone of 'Bagga-Sven' in Ballingslöv, Sweden
Sven Persson (1861-1928), a self-assured goat farmer known as “Bagga-Sven” or “Baggen” (“The Ram”), left behind a legacy that defies convention. In 1906, he inscribed a tribute to himself on a naturally flat upright stone near his cottage in the forest outside Ballingslöv in southern Sweden. The immodest inscription reads: “Memory of Laborer Sven Persson, The Wisest in the Christian Religion and the Greatest Astronomer in the World.” Alongside his role as a shepherd, Sven also wrote three self-published books, notably...

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